Cause-related Marketing: Ein scheinheiliges Kooperationskonzept?

Zusammenfassung  Wenn Krombacher für jeden verkauften Kasten Bier ein Stück Regenwald rettet oder Volvic pro verkauftem Liter Mineralwasser zehn Liter Trinkwasser in Afrika f?rdert, dann steht dahinter ein besonderes Konzept, Cause-related Marketing (CrM): Ein Wirtschaftsunternehmen kooperiert mit einer Nonprofit-Organisation und sein Beitrag wird mit dem Umsatz von Produkten verbunden. Was erwarten Unternehmen, NPOs, aber auch die Konsumenten von CrM? Inwieweit stehen ihre Ziele in Einklang? Und was sollten die Beteiligten beachten, um CrM zum Erfolg zu führen? Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Heribert Meffert Emeritierter Direktor und Gründer des Instituts für Marketing an der Westf?lischen Wilhelms-Universit?t Münster; ehemaliger Vorsitzender des Vorstandes der Bertelsmann Stiftung Dipl.-Kfm. Martin Holzberg Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Marketing Centrum Münster der Westf?lischen Wilhelms-Universit?t Münster     

Technical efficiency and region The U.S. manufacturing sector 1972–1977

In this paper we estimate the extent of technological bias in an interregional context for U.S. manufacturing during the period 1972–1977 using a factor augmenting production function approach. We present estimates of the elasticity of factor substitution for each of the 48 states in the sample using a variable elasticity of substitution production function. Next, we use these estimates to generate estimates of the rates of change in the efficiencies of capital and labor inputs and compare these estimates across states and census regions. We also examine and compare estimates of total factor productivity across states and regions. We ,find that the average annual rates of growth of capital efficiency during the period are 5.5 percent in the Northeast, 5.3 percent in the Northcentral, 5.6 percent in the West and 3.1 percent in the South. The rates of change of the efficiencies of labor are found to be negative across all regions except the South. The rates of change of total factor productivity are found to be 1.7 percent in the Northeast, 2.3 percent in the Northcentral, 2.4 percent in the West and 1.7 percent in the South. We also find that between 33 percent and 56 percent of the growth of output across regions is due to technical progress.     

Gold,liquidity and secured loans in a multistage economy

A multistage economy with durables with finite and with unbounded lives is considered. The importance of the existence of both asset and rental markets is considered. It is shown that without rental markets efficiency may not be achieved and a stationary state that might exist with rental markets need not exist. The meaning of the existence of a 100% backed loan is considered. The roles of gold and land as stores of value and money are considered.Research supported in part by ONR Grant N00014-86-K-0220 and by NSF Grant No. SES-8812051.     

What moves housing markets: A variance decomposition of the rent–price ratio

We apply the dynamic Gordon growth model to the housing market in 23 US metropolitan areas, the four Census regions, and the nation from 1975 to 2007. The model allows the rent–price ratio at each date to be split into the expected present discounted values of rent growth, real interest rates, and a housing premium over real rates. We show that housing premia are variable and forecastable and account for a significant fraction of rent–price ratio volatility at the national and local levels, and that covariances among the three components damp fluctuations in rent–price ratios. Thus, explanations of house-price dynamics that focus only on interest rate movements and ignore these covariances can be misleading. These results are similar to those found for stocks and bonds.     

Three New Real Estate Price Indices for Geneva,Switzerland

This paper develops constant-quality price indices for three categories of real estate-apartment buildings, vacant land, and condominiums—for the city of Geneva, Switzerland. We use both the hedonic and repeat sales models to estimate the price level and, in turn, the rate of price change. The general pattern of each series suggests that real estate prices in Geneva were fairly stable throughout the 1970s, increased sharply during the 1980s, but gave back some of these gains in the early 1990s. Interestingly, the sharp rise in prices in the second half of the 1980s is very similar to that found in some regions of the United States. We also consider the problem, implicit in the repeat sales method, of revisions in previously estimated price indices as additional data become available in later years.     

Which school systems sort weaker students into smaller classes? International evidence

We examine whether the sorting of high- and low-achieving students into classes of different sizes results in a regressive or compensatory pattern of class sizes for 18 national school systems. Sorting effects are identified by subtracting the causal effect of class size on performance from their total correlation. Our empirical results reveal strongly compensatory patterns of sorting within and especially between schools in many countries. Only the United States, which has a decentralized education finance and considerable residential mobility, exhibits regressive between-school sorting. Between-school sorting is more compensatory in systems with ability tracking. Within-school sorting is more compensatory where administrators rather than teachers assign students to classrooms.     

Time-varying risk in the German stock market

This paper compares two specifications of the Capital Asset Pricing Model for a sample of German stocks. The specifications generate time-varying first and second moments by conditioning on past information. This explicit modelling of the time series behaviour of risk allows us to characterize the driving factors of variances and covariances of returns. In addition to a variety of diagnostic tests we evaluate the validity of the one-factor restriction in the CAPM. The main findings are that risk is time dependent and very variable and also that more than one factor is needed to fit the data set.     

Strategic management accounting in close inter-organisational relationships

This paper provides a conceptual comparison between the ‘mainstream strategic management accounting’ literature, the ‘accounting and strategising’ literature and ‘strategic management accounting (SMA) in close inter-organisational relationships’. It concludes that ‘SMA in close inter-organisational relationships’ shares some important characteristics with the ‘accounting and strategising’ literature. Important differences were found, too, though. These mainly concerned the need to understand individuals working for close partners as preparers of strategic information; the need for disaggregated accounting information about unique connections to close partners and about the role of indirect benefits that follow from close connections and the need for the company to not only collect information but also disperse diverse information within close inter-organisational relationships. Through an intensive case study of a global robot manufacturer, Robotics, this paper also provides novel empirical evidence on ‘SMA in close inter-organisational relationships’. For instance, SMA practices included indirect benefits, something mainly neglected in the existing literature on SMA. These indirect benefits involved a close customer's willingness to invest time and effort in Robotics’ technological development, thereby contributing to Robotics’ ability to attain revenue gains in its interactions with other customers. Our findings also have important implications for the ‘inter-organisational accounting’ literature, for instance, by highlighting the need to link more explicitly strategic decision-making with the current interest in the role of accounting in inter-organisational dynamics.     

Shaping online consumer choice by partitioning the Web

This research explores how partitioning attributes in online search interfaces changes the valuations of those attributes—and impacts subsequent choice—such that attributes that are displayed as separate categories tend to receive greater decision weight than attributes grouped under umbrella categories. Across several choice domains—cars, dates, and hotels—we show that different attribute partitions impact the importance assigned to attributes (Studies 1 and 2), as well as consumer choices (Studies 3 and 4). We argue that these effects are due in part to users' willingness to use the implicit recommendations of interface designers to determine the importance of attributes, a willingness that extends to following explicit recommendations of online agents based on those attributes (Study 5). © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Implementing a Market Orientation in Small Manufacturing Firms: From Cognitive Model to Action

Using in-depth interviews of the CEO/Presidents of 21 small manufacturing firms, this research explored how leaders with a high market-oriented cognitive model have intentionally pursued the implementation of that model and how their activities differed from leaders with a low market-oriented cognitive model. Results indicated that leaders in high market-oriented organizations appeared to be working from cognitive models that reflected market-oriented values, and norms consistent with those suggested by Homburg and Pflesser. Additionally, results indicated strong consistencies across firms in the mechanisms used by leaders to implement their high market-oriented cognitive models and different but equally strong consistencies in the mechanisms used by leaders to implement their low market-oriented cognitive models. Structurally, high market-oriented leaders expressed less departmentalization than low market-oriented firms, used some form of internal customer/supplier networks, had very open communication systems, and established performance management systems designed to initiate and reward market-oriented behaviors among employees.